I am a Catholic, attending a shrinking parish.

I am a Ph.D student, attending a dying university, teaching struggling students on a shoestring budget.

I am a resident of the lower Midwest, driving on pockmarked roads, past crumbling buildings, with deflated housing prices and fallow fields.

I am a citizen of the USA, where trust in centuries old institutions is at an all time low, where the oligarchy has grown sacrilegiously wealthy, where people can work 60 hours a week and barely afford to subsit.

At what point does change become necessary? At what point does hope lose its power? In all honesty, even with the struggles that I gave, I am one of the lucky ones. What do we do for those who are not fortunate enough to have the blessings that I do – a fulfilling calling, a loving wife, a supportive family, a loving God? At what point do we force the issue to the fore and take control, instead of watching the country of which we are a part of slowly die in front of us and our children?